Premium
Elevated plasma big ET‐1 is associated with distant failure in patients with advanced‐stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Author(s) -
Mai HaiQiang,
Zeng ZongYuan,
Zhang ChangQing,
Feng KaiTao,
Guo Xiang,
Mo HaoYuan,
Deng ManQuan,
Min HuaQing,
Hong MingHuang
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.21790
Subject(s) - nasopharyngeal carcinoma , medicine , confidence interval , hazard ratio , stage (stratigraphy) , gastroenterology , carcinoma , oncology , radiation therapy , biology , paleontology
Abstract BACKGROUND Endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) is a potent vasoactive peptide and a hypoxia‐inducible angiogenic growth factor associated with the development and spread of solid tumors. The clinical significance of plasma big ET‐1 in patients with advanced‐stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is not known. METHODS Pretreatment plasma big ET‐1 levels were measured in 62 patients with advanced‐stage NPC using a sandwich enzyme‐linked immunoassay and compared with the levels from a control group ( n = 19 participants). RESULTS The median pretreatment plasma big ET‐1 level in patients with advanced‐stage NPC was 4.6 pg/mL (range, 1.9‐15.2 pg/mL) and was significantly elevated compared with median plasma big ET‐1 levels in healthy controls, 2.6 pg/mL (1.6‐4.5 pg/mL) ( P < .001). Using the upper limit (4.5 pg/mL) of control subjects as the cut‐off value, plasma big ET‐1 was ≤ 4.5 pg/mL in 29 (46.8%) patients and > 4.5 pg/mL in 33 (53.2%) patients. A pretreatment plasma big ET‐1 level > 4.5 pg/mL was associated with a significantly poorer 2‐year distant metastasis‐free survival rate (56.7% vs. 81.1%, P = .031). Multivariate analysis showed that N classification (hazard ratio [HR], 2.416; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.071‐5.447; P = .034) and pretreatment plasma big ET‐1 level (HR, 3.151; 95% CI, 1.099‐9.028, P = .033) were independent significant prognostic factors for posttreatment distant failure in patients with advanced‐stage NPC. CONCLUSIONS Pretreatment plasma big ET‐1 levels may be useful in predicting posttreatment distant failure in patients with advanced‐stage NPC. Cancer 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society.